This is the 18th consecutive week of initial claims above 1 million. Prior to March, initial claims had never risen as high as 700,000.

Economists had forecast 1.3 million claims. The prior week was initially reported as 1.3 million claims. The Labor Department revised that figure up by 7,000.

Claims hit a record 6.87 million for the week of March 27. Until this week, each subsequent week has seen claims decline.

Jobless claims can create a distorted picture of the labor market because they measure only job losses and not gains. Continuing claims during the week ending July 11 fell to 16,197,000, a decrease of 1,107,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 34,000 from 17,338,000 to 17,304,000. These figures are reported with a week's lag.